After all, he plays in the largest shadow cast by a hockey prospect since Sidney Crosby.

The shade is a comfortable spot, though, a place where Dylan Strome can ripen with little fanfare. He’s no sidekick to Connor McDavid, the shadow’s teenage owner and a bottom-feeding NHL team’s future saviour.

McDavid, out of the lineup with a broken hand until late December, is undoubtedly a generational talent with the word “elite” marked beside his name up and down scouting reports. But Dylan Strome, a 17-year-old second-line centre for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, appears to have the upper hand in one facet of the game.

“The curious thing is, Strome will get on the power play with McDavid but he’ll take all the faceoffs,” said Dan Marr, director of the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau. “In important times of the game, Strome is out there taking the faceoff. As far as the coaching staff is concerned, he’s very proficient in that area. That’s something NHL scouting directors and general managers look for.”

The fact Dylan Strome has evidently been pinned as the go-to Otter in the faceoff circle doesn’t elevate him to peer status with McDavid. What it does indicate, however, is that the playmaker from Mississauga is not a passenger. Dylan Strome’s the real deal, a projected top 10-15 pick at the 2015 NHL draft in Sunrise, Fla., next June.

“He’s one of our leaders,” Otters general manager Sherry Bassin said. “He’s playing in some shadows right now. What’s really special about him is that everybody’s talking about McDavid, yet this guy could be in the top 10 and he’s not affected by it.

“He’s going to be a significant NHL player.”

In 20 games this season, Dylan Strome has racked up 14 goals and 43 points. Six of those goals have been assisted by McDavid, while only 10 of the 29 scoring plays Dylan Strome’s assists derive from have also featured McDavid.

The Erie duo is one-two in OHL scoring -- with McDavid’s 51 points pacing the pack -- yet less than 40% of Dylan Strome’s production involves the phenom, too.

A rangy pivot, Dylan Strome can sometimes look like a young Joe Thornton, another No. 19 and a player the 6-foot-3, 187-pounder models his game after. “The way Thornton possesses the puck, the way he plays a 200-foot game,” Dylan Strome said, “that’s definitely something I (aspire) to be like.”

Bassin raves about his alternate captain’s “high character” and proclaims he’s “every bit as good as his brother” Ryan Strome, who’s in his second season with the New York Islanders after being selected fifth overall in the 2011 draft.

In terms of playing styles, the brothers differ slightly. Dylan Strome has longer reach and is known to dish the puck more often. Ryan Strome, while also a pass-first forward, seems to have a better nose for the net.

“Dylan’s a forward that’s effective in the size-strength game,” Marr said. “That means he’s good in 1-on-1 battles. He might be one of the better players, behind (projected No. 2 pick Jack) Eichel, in terms of the puck protection game in this draft class.”

In a short interview, Ryan Strome couldn’t resist reverting back to his younger sibling’s high level of maturity as a person and player. Unprompted, he uttered the words “maturity” or “mature” a half-dozen times over a five-minute conversation.

“The maturity is obviously crazy. He’s much more mature than I was at his age, that’s for sure,” Ryan Strome said with a laugh. “I was obviously smaller than him, not as physically mature. But he’s got all the tools, mature beyond his years like I keep saying.”

In 2009, Williamson, then coach of the Barrie Colts, selected Ryan Strome eighth overall in the OHL draft. A season later, after taking the coach/GM with the Niagara IceDogs, Williamson made a trade that saw future NHL star Alex Pietrangelo and Ryan Strome switch teams.

Williamson then coached Ryan Strome on the IceDogs for four seasons, winning an Eastern Conference championship in 2011-12. Two seasons later, the first full pro season for Ryan Strome, Williamson’s IceDogs were forced to fend off the 1997-born Strome brother.

Although Erie and Niagara play in different conferences, Williamson said Dylan Strome will always “wave and say hi” when the pair occasionally cross paths at the rink.

“He’s always got a smile on his face, always happy,” Williamson said. “That’s similar to how Ryan was. Ryan probably had a little more edge to him on the ice, but their personalities off the ice seem very similar.”

“Ryan was a jokester,” Williamson added, “in on every conversation that was going, always had something to say, very humorous. I see Dylan similarly.”

[Photo via Aaron Bell/OHL Images]

Told about Dylan Strome’s affection for Thornton and how their styles overlap in certain areas, Williamson agreed, saying it was a “real strong comparison.”

“What I like about Dylan is just how quickly he reads the situation,” he said. “Some guys who like to pass will wait, wait, wait for that perfect pass. Dylan is extremely unselfish. He makes that pass very early and gets it onto people’s stick at the right time.

“That’s a kid who really gets the game if he’s processing things that quickly.”

Saginaw Spirit forward Mitch Webb, who played on a line with Dylan Strome for the Toronto Marlboros ‘AAA’ minor midget club, said his ex-teammate and current opponent hasn’t lost his edge since making the jump to major junior.

“His vision is still there,” Webb said. “In minor hockey, he was a man among boys. And here, he’s still a man out here. He sees the game so well.”

Webb’s fondest on-ice memory involving Dylan Strome, the teammate?

“The Silver Stick finals,” he said without hesitation. “We were playing (well-known Michigan team) Compuware. We were projected to lose, the odds were against us. We were short three guys, we had three call-ups. But our line ended up scoring nine points and we won the game 5-3. It was a pretty memorable game. We still talk about that to this day.”

This season, with the spotlight shining almost solely on McDavid, Dylan Strome is again rising to the occasion.

Although the left-handed centre has recorded a point in all but two Erie games so far, Dylan Strome is prepared for small failures. The objective, he said, is to be able to reflect on the year at season’s end and feel like he had the “least amount of bad games” as possible.

“There’s going to be times when you don’t have a good game or make a bad play,” Dylan Strome said.

“But that’s the great thing about hockey, you get to play the next day.”

Sounds like the shade is an alright place to be.

BREAKING FOR LACROSSE

Inspired by their dad, the Strome brothers dabbled in competitive lacrosse growing up.

All three brothers – the baby sibling, Matt, is a promising 15-year-old OHL prospect – made the rep team in Mississauga, with Dylan and Matt also suiting up for Team Ontario.

New York Islanders captain John Tavares, whom the Stromes now train with in the off-season, famously honed his skills during his time as a young lacrosse player. The influence of the ball sport manifests in Tavares’ all-world stickhandling.

You could say the same for the crafty Strome brothers, but dad Chris Strome notes they were originally enrolled in lacrosse for another reason -- to take a break from hockey.

“It was important to get away from the rink a little bit,” he said. “Nowadays, it seems like the kids are doing hockey 12 months of the year.”